COVID-19: Kolkata Police to enforce work from home for STF and Dog Squad

Kolkata Police authorities introduced work from home for Special Task Force personnel and the canines of the Dog Squad on Saturday as most of the police personnel are affected by Covid.

Kolkata:Amid the rising Covid-19 cases in West Bengal, Kolkata police officers are introducing 'work from home' for Special Task Force (STF) personnel and the canines of the Dog Squad on Saturday. Kolkata Police authorities have been forced to take this unprecedented step in the wake of covid-19 affecting police personnel in large numbers.

The authorities have been forced to suspend the training for the new entrants in the Special Task Force (STF) and the new canines inducted into the dog squad. Police officials apprehended that this suspension of training can have a long-standing impact. Without training, the reserve strengths of these two squads cannot be kept ready and tested for emergency actions.

However, senior police officers are themselves in doubt on how far this concept of work from home will be feasible for a force. This mode of work from home is not just feasible for ground-level workers like constables, traffic sergeants, and sub-inspectors. "This is something really not feasible. But in the present situation we are forced to introduce this work from home concept for at least certain departments," a senior IPS official said on condition of anonymity.

But what is keeping the top brass of Kolkata Police worried is canines missing training sessions. These dogs are already trained. But they need to go through a daily practice session. Otherwise, in due course, these canines might not be able to perform as efficiently as they are expected to do, said a dog handler of city-police who refused to be named.

The canines of the Dog Squad play an extremely crucial role - ranging from explosives to narcotics detection to crime detection to VIP security. A similar cause of concern is the suspension of training for the personnel of the STF.

The members of this special squad are training detectives who constantly need to go through physical training, exercises, and technical training for their nature of assignments. The member of the STF has an All Bengal jurisdiction and their main functions are anti-terrorist activities.

However, all the training and practice session has been stopped now.